Families from St. Stephen, a Catholic Church small Christian community from area 12 in Lilongwe brought smile among women and sick inmates at Maula prison following the prayers and meals they provided to the inmates.
Saturday’s visit to one of the congested jails in Malawi located in Lilongwe was part of observance of Jubilee of Mercy called by Pope Francis beginning December 8, 2015 until November 20, 2016. The jubilee directs Church attention and actions on mercy so that the lives of the faithful better radiate and reflect the tender love of God and to seek to draw others into the experiencing that love and mercy.
The St. Stephen community which is part of St. Patrick Parish in Area 18 brought to the inmates a message of mercy, hope and forgiveness before serving a dietary meal to more than 365 inmates among them 65 female prisoners currently at Maula and 300 prisoners receiving various medical treatments at the prison including those on Tuberculosis (TB) treatment.
Speaking in an interview after prayers and lunch, Mrs Christine Kapira Chingondole Secretary, for St. Stephen said they wanted to share happiness with inmates through Gospel and feasting together while showing them that they are not abandoned society.
“As group we agreed to do some works of mercy with focus on people in prisons and hospitals.” She said, “Having learnt that sick prisoners in adult section and female prisoners are continuously experiencing food shortages, we saw it fit to come and eat with them while sharing the Gospel.”
“We shared them the Gospel about the Prodigal Son and the Loving Father. Actually the main message was to remind them that even though we commit sin sometimes, but God continuously forgive us. So we must confess our sins and seek for God forgiveness and God is always ready to cleans our transgressions” she said
The group also proclaimed hope to inmates that they are people like anybody else although they live in prison due to various factors and word of assurance that communities are ready to welcome them back once their prison term ends.
“We have seen their growing desire to hear the Gospel, so, we will continue paying them a visit.” Said Mrs. Chingondole adding that they also will look at ways of how they can assist about six needy children who were born in prison and also Cell 12 inmates them TB patients who do not get visits regularly.
Inspector Billy Kamphambale- Acting Station Officer for Maula Prison said prisoners are mostly in dire need of food and other things like soap.
He then expressed his profound gratitude for the visit of St. Stephen to share the Gospel and have lunch with the prisoners.
“We are very happy that families from St. Stephen came to share the Gospel with the inmates here to help them in the spiritual growth as well to give them food for their physical being. We really appreciate this noble gesture and we look forward to see them continue helping our prisoners.”
One of the female prisoners who spoke at the lunch said she was glad that she has eaten nice meal that she misses since her imprisonment and expressed desire to see St. Stephen coming back to cheer them up.
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